Israel is relaying an emergency assistance team to the site of an earthquake in Nepal, where Israelis are believed to have been trapped by 7.9 scale tremors and a subsequent avalanche that have so far killed over 1,300 people.

A powerful earthquake struck Nepal and sent tremors through northern India on Saturday, killing hundreds of people, toppling a 19th-century tower in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu and triggering a fatal avalanche on Mount Everest.

A group of modern Orthodox rabbis have done what advocates for Orthodox gays and lesbians say would have been unthinkable as recently as five years ago: They spoke at a conference on the treatment of gay, lesbian and transgender people in Orthodox communities.

Stung by a court ruling that would force it to run a controversial ad from an anti-Muslim group on its buses, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority may adopt a new policy that could let it ban the ad after all.

The killing of an American with Jewish roots who directed al Qaeda’s media campaign from his Pakistani hideout is likely to be a big blow for the militants, especially as they wage a propaganda war with Islamic State.